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My SIL first made this soup for our Halloween dinner several years ago. We immediately fell in love with it, and it has become part our traditional Halloween meal.

If serving to kids, you may want to reduce or omit the cayenne, since they will most likely find it too spicy. The original recipe called for twice as much cayenne as I’ve listed here, but it was too spicy for this mild girl’s taste. You can adjust to your on taste.

The original recipe called for a finely chopped onion, but I didn’t like having the onion chunks floating in my bowl. Instead, I prefer the onion to be pureed after it’s been softened. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use a food processor or blender. Just be sure to add a little of the veggie stock to the onions to help them puree more easily, and NEVER add hot liquids to your blender or you can plan to take cover from the imminent explosion.

This is another Fall favorite in our home. My SIL, Becky, shared this recipe with our family a couple years ago, and I’ve made lots of loaves ever since. Becky and others in the family like to add chocolate chips, which is yummy, but I prefer if plain.

P.S. The baked loaves freeze well.

Confession: I’ve been known to eat an entire loaf by myself. I’m not ashamed!

Last weekend, we attended visited a nearby orchard and came home with several varieties of yummy, locally-grown apples. What a treat!

In preparation for our apple outing, I spent some time searching for apple recipes on some of my favorite food blogs and was able to find several potential candidates.

These two recipes come from a couple different sources. Williams-Sonoma is responsible for the waffle recipe and Your Homebased Mom is the source of the syrup. Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE the latter’s site?!?

I love making waffles, and I love trying new varieties of waffles. One thing that makes waffle making so easy-peasy is my KitchenAid Pro Line Waffle Maker. It allows me to make two waffles at a time, and because it rotates and allows the waffles to cook upside down, they stay lighter and fluffier. Thanks to many people’s generous gift cards that we received when we got married, we were able to procure this handy appliance, and I have never regretted the aquisition.

I served these waffles with Cinnamon Syrup, Cool Whip sprinkled with cinnamon. Next time I make the waffles, I may try adding a little apple juice (and a little more flour to compensate) to the mix–in an effort to increase the apple flavor.

And the icing on the cake syrup on the waffle is that I can now mark “Syrup” off of my list of things to conquer!

Preheat an oven to 200°F. Preheat a Belgian waffle maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, buttermilk, milk and butter. Add the grated apple and stir to combine.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture and whisk until smooth (some small lumps are OK).

Using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to high, add the sugar 1 Tbs. at a time and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 3 minutes. Fold half of the whites into the batter, then carefully fold in the remaining whites.

Sprinkle 2 Tbs. of the chopped pecans onto the waffle maker. Pour about 2/3 cup of the batter onto the surface. Cook the waffles according to the manufacturer’s instructions until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer the waffles to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you cook the remaining waffles.

Quotables

We may live without poetry, music and art;
We may live without conscience, and live without
heart;
We may live without friends; we may live without
books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks.
-Owen Meredith